Prince Charles asks Brits not to imitate 'super-sized' American cousins |
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Fri, 27 Jan 2006 15:30
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LONDON - Obviously concerned with the growing incidence of obesity in the British society, the Prince of Wales has asked his countrymen to walk and cycle to avoid the epidemic. These warnings were conveyed in a speech delivered by the Prince at St James’s Palace at a conference on design and health. The conference was organized by the Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment and the King's Fund.
"We are perhaps not far behind our American cousins in the 'supersizing' epidemic," Charles said. "Research... suggests that walking or cycling for just half an hour a day can have a significant improvement on our state of health. But why don't we do it more?" He said that the planning and the infrastructure available in most cities discouraged walking.
He said that people had discontinued walking "because our towns and cities make it nearly impossible, and because it might help if the built environment was more attractive and appealing to the pedestrian". He citied the research conducted by Dr Richard Jackson in this regard.
Dr Jackson, who is a professor at the University of California School of Health, also addressed delegates and said that mental illnesses and obesity were directly linked to poor planning and asked British planners to take into account a healthy lifestyle while designing towns.
“Dr Jackson and his colleagues have pointed to a disturbing link between the built environment, physical inactivity and what he terms a syndemic of diseases, including, perhaps most worryingly, childhood obesity," Prince Charles said.
These initiatives come even as the latest data from the Department of Health shows that 40 percent men and 33 percent women are overweight and 20 percent are obese.
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